This rooster does not crow but could nevertheless attract all desire. This Saturday, March 30, the famous Fontainebleau Osenat auction house will present a lead rooster, which has the particularity of having peaked at the top of the bell tower of the Saint-Louis church in the town in the 18th century. The sale will take place at 2 p.m. at the Hôtel d'Albe. It is estimated between 500 and 700 euros.
It is one of those objects which does not have a great monetary value but an immense historical value. It is also another beautiful story that brought this rooster, dated 1701, in Louis XIV style, into the hands of Cédric Laborde, associate director of Maison Osenat in charge of the furniture & art objects department. “It was a client who suggested it to me three months ago. It’s an antiques dealer from Strasbourg, specializing in unusual objects,” he says. Acquired for the sum of 670 euros, thanks to a sale in La Baule (Loire-Atlantique), the art dealer is not looking to make any added value.
An object discovered in Loire-Atlantique
This merchant is Armand Berauer, 71 years old. “I am retired but I continue to hunt in auction rooms throughout Europe. This rooster really stood out. It was presented in 2021 during an event in La Baule. I bought it and put it in my house not knowing where it came from. I carried out my research and discovered that it was the rooster from the Saint-Louis church in Fontainebleau.” A discovery which pushed the professional to approach the auction house of Jean-Pierre Osenat, renowned for its expertise in the Napoleonic period.
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Who better than the Saint-Louis church to position itself for Saturday's auction? Nobody, according to the Osenat house. “It would be a great story for this rooster to return to its place of origin more than 300 years later,” enthuses Cédric Laborde.
A call to the parish of Fontainebleau.
Father José Antonini, parish priest of Fontainebleau, was far from imagining such a surprise for Easter, this celebration so important for Catholics. “When I learned about this rooster. I immediately inquired and knew that it was a very old object. I had in my hands a paper from the Ministry of Culture attesting that it was indeed the rooster of our church and that it had even undergone a restoration in 1877,” recalls the clergyman.
Fontainebleau, Maison Osenat. This Saturday, at the auction room of the Hôtel d'Albe, the former rooster from the Saint-Louis church in Fontainebleau, which sat at the top of its bell tower in the 18th century, will be presented at auction. An object with low market value but high historical value.
Anxious to do everything possible to return a piece of memory to his church and expose it to the eyes of the faithful, he directly established ties with the Osenat house. “We will see how the sale goes on Saturday where I will be present. We have also received several messages from faithful who have offered us their help to finance it. It is possible that we come across a lover of religious objects but we will do our best to ensure that he comes back to us.”
Arson in 2016
In the Catholic religion, the rooster is the symbol of dawn and renewal, of light in the face of darkness. It was Pope Leo IV who decided, around the year 850, that the bell tower of each church must display this decoration. If today the Saint-Louis church in Fontainebleau has another rooster, installed since 1960, it could be that the latter will soon have a new roommate. We will have to wait until Saturday to find out the outcome of this sale.
Fontainebleau, Monday January 10, 2016. In the Saint-Louis church, scene of three different fire outbreaks, religious objects were also stolen and others destroyed. LP/Marine Legrand
The Saint-Louis church is dear to the hearts of Bellifontains, especially since eight years ago it was the target of an arson attack. On January 10, 2016, fire destroyed a valuable part of the religious building. The arsonist, a 49-year-old man, was found guilty but irresponsible. This regular at the parish suffered from significant psychiatric problems. Arrested a few days after the fire, he was placed in pre-trial detention before being interned in the Melun psychiatric hospital.
On the night of the incident, three fires were lit in the Saint-Louis church, causing significant material damage, including the destruction of a 15th century altarpiece and a 17th century altar. It took two years of work to completely rehabilitate the church and in particular the chapel of Notre-Dame de Franchard.